NewHow to build a VMS business case

The smart way to manage your extended workforce

Compliantly source and manage external services and workforce in a single, next-gen VMS

How can we help?

Transparency & Compliance

Workflow Automation

Cost & Quality Control

Smart Contracting

In the near future > 50% of a company’s workforce spend will be on the external workforce

Procurement of services remains the largest dark pool of undermanaged spend

Large spend

  • ‘Invisible workforce’ already accounts for more than 40% of workforce spend
  • Substantial automation and savings opportunities

No transparency

  • Maverick buying
  • Lack of cost and quality control
  • No total workforce visibility

High business risks

  • Worker misclassifications
  • Security risks
  • SOW compliance

How Outerscore helps you achieving better business outcomes

1.

Simply describe the work needing to be done

A central platform for all external work: Chat-style dialogues and algorithms lead hiring managers to contractual recommendations, matching templates and suppliers - not just another decision wizard

2.

Foster internal and external collaboration

Engage with stakeholders efficiently: No more email ping pong, media breaks and bottlenecks but frictionless interaction with suppliers, internal departments and MSP

3.

Automate administrative workflows

Switch from repetitive, manual tasks to process automation: Policy governance, compliance monitoring, supplier distribution, contract generation, status & time tracking, invoice checks and many more

4.

Gain full visibility based on structured data

Easily configure dashboards that provide real-time insights for better decision making, reveiling anomalies, comparing project patterns and past engagements

5.

Get started quickly

Can be used stand-alone or integrated into an existing tech ecosystem. Modular, flexible system with self-service configurability to shorten deployment timelines

Across the globe, in all industries and functions companies are faced with 10 common challenges related to the extended workforce.

Which one is yours?

The challenge:

The buying of contract workers and service providers is often a grey zone. Hiring managers bypass procurement

Issues & Risks:
  • Disparate processes and tools
  • Intransparency, inefficiencies and human errors
  • Time-consuming reconciliation if data is needed
The solution:

A central self-service for hiring managers to request and source any type of service or contingent work across the company

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Benefits:
  • Consistent approach on engaging external workers (e.g. temps, contractors, service providers, consultants)
  • Empowerment of stakeholders to source autonomously with full compliance and transparency
  • Standardized and holistic view on all external services and workers
The challenge:

Incorrect status determination or deployment of external professionals: ‘Hide-a-Temp’ or ‘Staffing via SOW’

Issues & Risks:
  • Personal criminal liability and loss of reputation
  • Administrative fines, social security contributions, back taxes that can raise overall workforce costs by 5-10%
  • Co-employment claims: Unintended transition of contingent workers into permanent employment
The solution:

Automated compliance check procedures, approval workflows and anomaly engine to monitor risks

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Benefits:
  • Improved hiring manager experience: Real-time labor decisions and contractual recommendations
  • Reduction of workforce costs by correct classification
  • Scheduled compliance checks, monitoring and triggering of alerts
The challenge:

Regulations and standards like GDPR, PCI or HIPAA require safeguarding of sensitive data and privacy

Issues & Risks:
  • Inaccurate and divergent external workforce data due to low visibility and lack of centralized information system
  • Non-compliance with regional tax, labor or privacy laws
  • Without keeping an audit trail fines or legal actions are impending threats
The solution:

Convenient recording of all inputs, modifications and decisions. Proof of proper process implementation

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Benefits:
  • On-demand availability of all documents, approvals, signatures and more
  • Meaningful insight into all activties across the project timeline with easy access to greater detail
  • Configurable user roles and permissions based on need-to-know principle
The challenge:

Many industries are forced to handle confidential information and must defend against security threats

Issues & Risks:
  • Loss of know how or stolen assets
  • Security breaches (espionage or sabotage)
  • Quality and compliance risks
The solution:

Supplier and talent engagement tracking

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Benefits:
  • Master worker records of both suppliers, SOW and contingent workers in one place
  • Guided digital on- and offboarding processes
  • GDPR-compliant tracking of former assigments
The challenge:

Onerous sourcing processes utlizing a mix of spreadsheets, emails and phone calls

Issues & Risks:
  • Repetitive, manual tasks
  • Time consuming sourcing process: E.g. comparing providers in Excel lists
  • Operational friction due to inefficient, decentral stakeholder communication and media breaks
The solution:

Consumerized shopping experience that enables sourcing of services and contingent work at the speed of business

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Benefits:
  • Near touchless sourcing process through self-serve model, templates and contractual recommendations
  • Husle free journey from request to engage, including supplier matching and intelligent routing
  • Side by side comparison of proposals and benchmarking with past orders
The challenge:

Finding the right supplier or talent for a project in this competitive market is often too time-consuming

Issues & Risks:
  • Email ping pong between stakeholders
  • Business can’t wait: Maverick buying
  • Lose out on top talent to faster competitors or no access to the right sourcing channel
The solution:

A single system that can manage contractors, temps, gig and SOW workers. Access to prequalified talents and suppliers through multiple channels

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Benefits:
  • Recalling of proven high performers. Connectors to external talent pools
  • Job posting and SOW builder guarantee consistency and quality of RFPs. Tiered supplier distribution lists cut time
  • Faster approvals due to increased avenues provided via email
The challenge:

Poor quality of taxonomy and catalogue. Market rates largely informed by suppliers

Issues & Risks:
  • Supplier gaming of roles and rates to boost total billings
  • Overpaying for less qualified talent
  • T&M-based SOWs with high rates or different amounts for the same SOW
The solution:

Streamlined job taxonomy linked with rate benchmark. Recommendations for best matching engagement patterns

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Benefits:
  • Rate card mangement based on company-specific job taxonomies and service catalogues
  • Cost of a worker or deliverable measured against internal or market benchmarks (by location, skill set, level,..)
  • Enforced rate card compliance and contractual recommendations (e.g. lower bill rates for roles/workers via staffing companies instead of SOW)
The challenge:

T&M blank checks for SOW suppliers. Ballooning budgets. Time consuming  invoice hunting

Issues & Risks:
  • External service provider’s invoices do not match PO
  • Overpayments and budget overruns detected too late, low use of milestone billing
  • Budget shortages result in insufficient project outcomes
The solution:

Automated cost management & governance.  Invoice imports or automated invoicing

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Benefits:
  • Real-time spend transparency – before the bill arrives 
  • Highly structured data and automated analysis dashboards
  • Decreased risk of budget excess and wrong invoices
  • No more manual cost reporting and invoice reconciliation
The challenge:

No reaction on delivery failures: Quality of work and progress against milestones is not checked sufficiently

Issues & Risks:
  • Scope creep and unsatisfactory work go unchecked
  • Costly rework causing budget overruns
  • Missed deadlines put project and budget at risk
The solution:

Get what you pay for: Open feedback & rewards for good performance and SOW compliance

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Benefits:
  • 360 degree survey for teammates, suppliers and stakeholders. Or keep it simple: 5 star direct evaluations
  • Real-time insights to respond quickly if issues surface
  • Option to implement rewards or performance-based fee arrangements
The challenge:

Re-hiring of service providers who have not met performance or quality standards

Issues & Risks:
  • Personal bias
  • Intransparency, missing track records
  • Insufficient level of expertise and experience in a particular topic
The solution:

Leverage past experiences: Enhanced decision making based on proven qualifications and passion

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Benefits:
  • Merit, skill and experience-based supplier and candidate matching
  • Improved service from partner suppliers and reduced effort through supplier rationalization
  • ”Do not re-hire’ flags if work is unsatisfactory

Outerscore Gateway©: Navigates to the right type of service, commercial model, scope and outcome

Guides users to the right setup

  • Asks conversational questions to determine the right type of work, worker classification, channel of supply and commercial model
  • Guides users to compliant, standardized and well-structured descriptions for all types of services

Centralizes enterprise knowledge

  • Streamlines fragmented documents, emails, presentations and spreadsheets into one knowledge graph
  • Enables re-usage and sharing of knowedge on job postings, SOWs, outcomes and suppliers

Automates demand cycle for services

  • Offers pre-build workflows based on country, value, work type and scoring to enable procurement to automate control and review (e.g. system-induced (self-)approvals & escalation workflows)
  • Makes it easy to configure a decision engine with branching, logic jumps, simple and complex scoring

Provides pre-defined playbooks

  • Leverages ready-to-go expert knowledge on guided buying, compliance checks, self-disclosures and pulse checks
  • Shapes category strategies and governance with uploadable playbooks e.g. on ESG, Modern Slavery, Diversity and more
 

Arrange a Demo to see how Outerscore can help you

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